Blood everywhere but who cares?

I wonder what it is about me that I always seem to find myself in strange situations. Earlier today during the school lunchbreak noticed a ruckus on the 390 bus going to Archway. As the doors opened at the bus stop, a group of 13/14 year boys in uniform from St Aloysius College were seemingly having an argument inside. Some of them I recognized. Thought at first it was the driver refusing to let them on. Found out later that they had been upstairs on the bus and had rushed down mobhanded chasing somebody.

All of a sudden one of the boys, obviously the group leader, charged across the road to a garden opposite and collected two long aluminum poles. He raced back across the road, jumped back on the bus and proceeded to beat a man with them.

The driver had interceded by opening his cabin door so the onslaught to the victim was minimized. Most of the gang were by this time off the bus and in the road egging on the situation. I just hate to see people hurt - don't know what possesses me but a kind of spontaneous reaction takes over, I challenged the boy with the bars. He didn't say anything to me but promptly threw them down on the road. I picked them up and moved them to make it safe as they all rushed off to get the 134 bus to Archway.

Back on the bus there was blood sprayed everywhere. The man was not seriously hurt but obviously needed medical treatment. I was a bit taken back that boys so young in their school uniform making them immediately identifiable could behave in this way. Some of them must have had blood on their clothes. They had apparently turned on a complete stranger and tried to steal his bag all because he had chastised them for spitting on people.

The ambulance came pretty quickly as did the Metroline bus supervisor. The police however didn't turn up until over two hours later. They claimed they were busy. Well what do you say to that. A sign of the times I suppose. It seems to be a common crime these days and the police don't categorise it as serious. So many witnesses but it's not surprising nobody wanted to stick their neck out and offer a statement. Not many people can afford to wait around for 2 hours. The other passengers just disembarked and transfered to another bus without saying anything.

Least the police contacted me and took a statement, that was the least I could do. They claimed I behaved in a sensible manner by removing the offending weapons out of harms way. In hindsight wondered whether I'd done the right thing.

Later in the evening at my friend's shop he insisted on having a box of lollipops to hand by his till. As he's not an over generous man I was curious to know what prompted that action. Said he had to have something ready to hand for Trick or Treating - if he doesn't he could be asking for trouble with the some of the older children. Also noticed the pile of eggs had disappeared apparently sold.

I don't know much about Halloween's Trick or Treat custom but the small kids going about dressed up with their parents was touching. However must admit the gangs roaming about later in the night were a bit intimidating. Still not sure what the eggs are for though.The wisecrack answer from the kids - they are using them for making omelettes.

Did you know?

In between LibDemming, normal life does exist. This past week has been a strange one. With the half term it's been a little quiet around here. Most of the nightmare kids from Ackland Burghley don't actually live in the immediate area. It has meant the paviers, without the usual disturbance have managed to progress at a quicker rate - there's only a few metres left on the Camden side of the road.

My sister Anne-Louise on hols as well (she lectures at Plymouth uni) decided to come and spend a few days with me so she could visit the British Library and look up some research papers. A fact I didn't know, a copy of anything published in UK can be located there. She's writing a dissertation on Dyslexia - not sure what area she's concentrating on but it's all serious stuff. Something to do with the correlation between querty keyboard (normal keyboard) and a specially designed one with letters in alphabetical order which is supposed to aid dyslexics. Under normal circumstances I would have asked many questions but since this no smoking malarky my brain seems to be rather dull and not so alert. Still can't be bothered to talk much or doing anything mentally tasking. Least I had a quick butchers at her personal reference books and found the description of my own form of dyslexia clearly categorized.

To my great embarrassment found the library's location at Euston is not far from my house. Honestly felt such a idiot - the building is massive, must has passed the place hundreds of times and never noticed it was a library. Took her down there and spent some of my time in the museum gallery. Absolutely fascinating - history is one of my passions and to see old books hundreds of years old in their ancient script is just magical - Online Gallery.

Cross referencing old names, just by chance came across a website with my own name written in Chinese script - least that's what it says it is but as I can't read or write any of their languages I can only presume it actually reads Susanne. Not sure I'd go as far as having it tattooed on my body as the site suggests. Just thought for the fun of it, other bloggers might be interested in seeing their own name written in Chinese calligraphy

Anne-Louise took time out whilst she was here to travel to Kent to visit her own grandchildren, Matthew's children. With him away in Afghanistan he is never far from our minds. She helped register me with the forces E-bluey to send him messages. Most interesting the way it's done. Now we've just been told that coming up to Christmas we can send parcels up to 2 kilos free of postage. The only thing I can think of sending him is chocolates - he another chocoholic. Apparently members of the public wishing to support the effort our forces overseas can also register on the site and send general messages.

Least it was good to see her - gave us the chance to catch up on a few things. Had a concerned moan about our other sister Jean who lives in her own world obsessed by material wealth near Grantham. Not my problem at the moment but I can't help feeling sorry for her as she's going to end up a lonely bitter old lady. (Might get round to writing a posting about her one day).

Coming back from Victoria station after seeing her off on Thursday, bought an Evening Standard newpaper only because they were giving out free umbrellas. Couldn't argue for 50p. It's one of those small jobbies, bright blue with white writing on that can hide in the bottom on one's bag. Probably come in very useful when it rains one of these days and brandishing the words Evening Standard about won't matter.

Friday - managed to spent a few hours with my grandson Naim at his house. He thought it very funny that Grandma was visiting him instead of the other way around. He's learned to pedal his bicycle properly even showing off by going backwards. The most surprising aspect about the boy is his rate of language development. In just one month he's gone from a few words to having proper conversations. Seems also to have a sharp memory so keeps butting in on other people's conversations with anecdotes of past events. Now one has to be careful what you say on the phone when he's in earshot - can't have any secrets with him around.

Certainly made me laugh - talking about family members and granma's, I asked his mum Natasha what does Naim call her grandmother and does he understand who she is. Apparently he seems to and calls her 'more-granma'. That's a new one on me.

Probably a good thing there's another baby on the way. Naim is a bit spoilt at the mo and becoming rather precocious. With two of them there will be less family focus on him. He keeps telling everybody his brother or sister is not ready to come out yet.

Must be the season for freebies at the mainline stations. On my way home, at London Bridge Station they were giving out free pots of Lloyd Grossman pasta sauce. Can honestly say have never bought anything like that in my whole life but took it just because it was free and because I was highly bemused by all the suits both men and women lining up for their free sample not saying a word to each other. Thought I might as well join the queue as well.

Back home much to my delight found my blog is now downloading properly. It's been playing silly devils for the past couple of weeks so it's been difficult to post, check out my link sites or monitor who's been reading my site. Now I might be able to get round to finding out much to my disappointment, why for some reason I can't download and see anything from 18 Doughty Street's new online station.

Today everybody is talking about having an extra hour in bed. I must be one of those odd sods but for me it's about having an extra hour awake. Still have to get up at 6.30 am regardless otherwise it throws my biological clock out of sync.

Kentish Town: A sea of LibDem balloons everywhere

Least it didn't rain today but what a wind. We set up our stall but a little late (not my fault I can assure readers) found Labour had taken our prime spot with their stall so had to position ours further up the road.

Labour's people all looked so fierce - as if looks could kill. Don't know any of them but recognized many of their faces from their stall last time around. One of their ladies came over to us and said that she saw our stall last week so they decided on having one of their own this week. A backhanded compliment to be sure. Shows they are worried they'll lose the seat as we all hope.

Our LibDem yellow balloons seem to be our stock-in-trade. Back from his trip, Robin brought along a cylinder of helium gas to blow them up this time. Much quicker than the normal lung busting puff. You do however have to hold them tight or they float away into the sky never to be seen again. We lost a few like that.

I've now got the whole process down to a fine art. The string cut in lengths, a wrist loop made on one end - made a huge pile. Blow up the balloon and tie it to the other end. So good to see the kids, prams and bikes going up and down with our balloons. The high wind helped create a sea of balloons everywhere. Some of the kids from the nearby estates came to collect some for their bikes as well. Might not be considered the best campaigning tactic by some but anybody out yesterday would have been aware the LibDems were about campaigning somewhere.

Apart from the balloons, Kentish Town residents all seem to be fully aware there is a by-election coming up - probably due to the CJN paper which everybody seems to read. So many people said they are going to vote for us and that the new Lib Dem administration is doing a good job - all very encouraging.

That's all well and good but we can't afford to be complacent about the possible outcome. It is obvious this is going to be a hard fought election. The Tories have announced their candidate and the Green Party are also out delivering leaflets so it's all LibDem hands on deck. Already got my delivery round for tomorrow.

With the campaign so local and the HQ just down the road in Nicks beautiful roof top flat for logistical convenience my flat hallway now seems to be becoming a campaign store. Got taken home along with everything others brought ready for the next adventure.

NB: My Vicky Pollard lookalike photo to be added later - Blogger is rejecting it at the moment

Rain Rain go away

Green Tax Switch - Kentish Town will be having another stall this Saturday. That's the plan anyway if it doesn't rain.

Had several telephone calls making sure I'm going to front it again. Can't let down the troops when they ask so nicely. Got the table and all the stuff in my hallway.

It coincides with the by-election activities. Ralph Scott our candidate, building on his established popularity in the ward is vigourously campaigning so it looks like the table will be the meeting point for all the expected helpers. Front of the Coop is where it is if anybody is coming to help. From feedback including local media reports it looks promising but it's not going to be any pushover.

Labour won't want to loose this seat and the Greens will be trying hard as well. Met their candidate Sian Berry last time around - such a determined young lady so we can expect the same this time.

'Oh dear' she says with a sigh, Can see all my spare time over the next few weeks will be taken up helping.

Confirmation we have been waiting for

Camden Labour Party Deputy Leader, Lucy Anderson, has now formally resigned as a councillor and the by-election in Kentish Town Ward is set for 7th December, just six weeks away.

Can envisage a miserable campaign if the rain keeps up. An amusing extract from a news email message says, we don't want the candidate getting too wet delivering - we want him talking to residents refreshed and smiling. We must ensure that this time we win it with a thumping majority. Whatever next and what about us mere mortals.

Already had some deliveries to do. Told that I'm needed more canvassing on the doorstep. At least somebody seems to appreciate my so called big mouth though to be honest talking to people is what it's all about and convincing them that what you have to say is from the heart and not a load of spin.

One glass or two?...

One might be excused for thinking this picture is from this week's Private Eye. It is actually one of the shots taken yesterday of Camden's Green Tax Switch stall outside the Co-op in Kentish Town.

After lugging the table, chair and all the gubbings down the road to Kentish Town, it started to rain. Not deterred, instead of our usual spot we moved slightly up the road outside the Coop which has a canopy.

The store manger asked us to position the table in front of the window section which has window posters so we didn't obstruct shoppers viewing inside the store - hence the photo. (The party has requested local parties to send in photos of their stalls. Wonder if they would accept this one - it's a real classic)

Such a shame the weather was so miserable. Didn't seem to deter the few local residents out and about coming up to us to have a chat. The reading impact of the CJN is far-reaching in Camden. Many people were aware that there will soon be a by-election though officially the news from the Town Hall has not yet been released.

The Lib Dems seem to be given a lot of credit for good things perceived to be happening in Camden borough. Locally the Kentish Town Baths is still a hot topic. It is widely known the money is now being made available to renovate all three pools and the gym - the former Labour administration tried to close the baths and sell off the building. On-street car clamping has been stopped much to eveybody's delight. All very encouraging for our candidate Ralph Scott - so many people openly said they will be voting for us.

Sad - Because of torrential rain we had to pack up after 4hrs but it didn't stop the hard-core team who went out canvassing. Actually met them at the shops near my house looking for food at 7.30pm. That's real dedication for you.

Ralph Scott out and about

The repaving of the Tufnell Park end of Brecknock Road is gradually coming to an end. They have done a marvellous job. The paving is sparkling white and for once on both sides of the road there are no huge puddles.

Local people are pleased with the result. All that remains is the continuation to the tube station from the 390 bus stop (photo) and the section by the shops on the other side - Kentish Town ward.

The sudden resignation of Kentish Town ward's Labour Councillor Lucy Anderson is in all the local papers. The CJN naturally is following the story closely - Shock resignation leaves Labour with polls battle. She only won her seat last May by 15 votes.

With a by-election imminent, the Lib Dems are fielding the same candidate Ralph Scott. He's been out and about going round the ward speaking to residents. He was eager to inspect Brecknock Road's new paving. What an achievement and a difference it's made to the area.

Ralph stopped to speak to the two paviers, now local celebs (photo above) from Crowleys the contractors. They were pleased to be appreciated and with their jackets on, they agreed to the photo. Their gaffer, funny man said we should stick one of the company road barriers in the background to show the world which company is doing the 'Good' work.

Also in the news today - effective from 1st Jan 07 all the rail stations situated in London's tube and bus zones 1 - 6 will now be financially linked under a new pricing structure so that the fares will be consistent with each other. A simple and sensible solution, long overdue. It means that Oyster cards and travel cards which already include the tube, buses and some train operators will be accepted by all mainline train operators.

Withdrawal symptoms

On the way to a party meeting at Westminster this evening picked up the free London Lite newspaper on the tube. Such disappointing news - It's rumoured that Charles Kennedy has fallen off the wagon. Apparently due to host the Marketing Week Effectiveness awards last night at the Hilton Hotel, he had to be replaced by BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine an hour beforehand.

Times online have also picked up the story, CHARLES KENNEDY'S hope of a political comeback suffered a blow yesterday when it was claimed that a relapse in his battle against alcoholism had forced him to pull out of hosting an awards ceremony.

Several other LibDem bloggers have commented already - presume the news will be out all over but just not had time to check out who's saying what about the situation in blog land. Liberal England is on the button, he says, Like all Lib Dem members, I wish Charles well. But I fear those who have been conducting polls on how soon he should return to the front bench have been rather premature.

Somebody from the The Voice rumour mill has obviously been reading the same paper - posted a superb job of the scanned page, such a clever chap, see link above.

Of course it was a brief topic of conversation before our meeting but what can you really say. It's up to him to stay teetotal. That must be hard in the Westminster village with so many bars everywhere and after meeting winding down with a drink as part of the the norm.

I'm finding it hard to keep off the cigs - 2 weeks now without even a single puff. The body is sure reacting in a strange way to having no nicotine. My brain seems numb and is screaming at me all the time. Feel irritable and bad tempered. Finding it very difficult to sit down for any length of time and write anything. Most of the time I don't even feel like talking. Got a pocket of chewing gum to relieve the tension. Trying to avoid being around anybody who smokes just to stave off temptation. Keeping off the fags is taking all the will power I can muster. From past experience I know if I take one puff I'd be back on them again like a shot. Nicotine withdrawal symptoms are very painful. Can envisage all kinds of jokes and sarky comments but I can only say it as it is.

Trying to explain how I feel at the meeting was met with some smiles. Sort of jammed up with stories of members struggling with the Muslim Rahmadan fasting. What a laugh.

With the meeting going over time, Simon Hughes MP as the host offered to go and get everybody a drink or tea or coffee - both the coffee shop & cafeteria closes at 9pm. Yours truely trotted after him to help carry the load.

They very kindly agreed to serve us but insisted that as it was after time they must give us the take-away cups. The lady in charge was very worried that she might not get the other pottery items back. Simon with his natural gift of the gab promised her everything would be returned. She was somehow convinced by him it was all kosher but then quite unexpectedly she asked him who he was in case of any query. Took a lot of self control not to laugh. My mind just refused to accept that there are people working in the House who don't know who he is.

Makes one think just how people relate to life and what goes on around them.The mind boggles. One has a job with the Westminster arena and you don't know who the MP's are. Just shows that some people are just not switched on to politics in any way.

Orange network outrage

Since yesterday afternoon have been let down by Orange, I've not been able to connect to the internet or receive any emails. It was really so annoying. Would have been nicer to have heard something on the news just to let people know what's going on. When I eventually found a telephone number to call the voice said that the whole of their internet broadband service was down. That they were having a problem with a third party network equipment and couldn't give any downtime estimation. It's all good and well to say engineers were working round the clock but not very comforting to a mere soul like me expecting docs to download for a meeting.

Dashed along to the doctors this evening to get my flu injection. Phoned to enquire about the availablity earlier and the receptionist told me to get my skates on quickly because the doctor had only 10 shots left. Good thing about my doctor is there are no appointments so you can just sit and queue if you need to see him.

I'm always a sceptical being but wanted to have a word with him anyway so for once did as I was told. So used to the media putting a spin on things so really hadn't considered the supply of flu vaccine to be as serious as they have been claiming. Doc said his next batch of 300 shots weren't expected until the end of the month. He actually had the 10 remaining lined up on his desk and was only giving out to whoever asked for it and he felt should have it. A sad state of affairs that this year he wasn't able to send out reminders as has been his approach to patient care in the past. Seems he feels I need it so having my shot left him with only 9. Sounded so ridiculous considering the number of elderly patients alone he has on his books

He says he's pleased I'm not smoking. Told me it will take at least a month to detox my body and only then will I begin to feel better. All these new concepts. Who even knew what detoxing was a few years ago. Said I should come and see him for a check up before Christmas.

Oh well as much as I hate doctors, am doing as I'm told.

Islington Tory on the attack

Some weird and wonderful comments have been appearing on my blog for months. Used to receiving insulting remarks even from some Lib Dems. Tired of deleting them, I've developed a thick skin so have decided to leave them unmoderated. Less stress and better to leave people to say what they want - freedom of speech 'n' all that. One known London Lib Dem anonymous poster has even got his company to send me spam mails to my private email address (least if he's not done it somebody has gone to a lot of trouble to set it up). Hays please get lost, I don't need a job.

I'm now being attacked by the Islington Conservatives - more specifically Paul Newman who according to the local Tory website is supposed to be Chairman of Hillrise ward. Under the heading Member's Blog, it says
'Please visit http://iznewmania.blogspot.com/ to read his viewpoints'.

He must have something against blondes. Saturday's eccentric rantings against
Hillrise LibDem Councillor Fiona Dunlop and Myself reads like somebody who's had a few too many. Poor man. Certainly good for a laugh. Just a bit surprised it's the writings of a Conservative. Apparently the party takes all sorts these days.

Don't know what it is about my blog that attracts so much vitriol - seems to be making waves in some quarters. Being a member of a political party is somewhat restrictive to a blog's output but party or no party Suz Blog will not stop.

By-election imminent in Kentish Town Ward

The news is out we are to have a by-election in Camden's Kentish Town ward. Local press report, LABOUR’S deputy leader Councillor Lucy Anderson (Thursday) dramatically quit the Town Hall.

In a midnight email to the Camden New Journal, she revealed plans to take up a new business manager job in the transport department of the Greater London Authority. She will move in November, leaving the council at the same time.

Lucy has not actually resigned her council seat yet, nor has the date for the by-election been fixed. It could be before Christmas!

Political pundits will know that in Camden's Kentish Town ward we gain two seats in May this year - Cllrs Philip Thompson and Faruque Ansari and narrowly missed getting our 3rd candidate Ralph Scott elected.

It will be all hands on deck soon - I am just thinking of the campaign that will have to take place in the dark. What choice do we have - the clocks go back at the end of the month. Just hope the cold does not suddenly descend on us either. One thing is sure I'll be blogging the campaign as usual with pics, so watch this space.

Update: By-election - Ralph Scott to be the LibDem candidate.

The ever so colourful Jenny Tonge

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined myself agreeing with Duncan Borrowman - Save Jenny.

Liberalism is certainly not about stifling debate - Who the hell is the sanctimonious Gavin Stollar to make such an arrogant statement just because he doesn't agree with what Jenny has to say. Ok she may have upset some party stalwarts and some of the text may be considered a little insentitive by some people but at least she is speaking her mind and has every right to express her views on the situation in the Middle East. I always thought that's what being a Lib Dem was all about.

It sounds like what's now being advocated is that 'good' Lib Dems should all be clones of one 'n' other. OK she's had a slap on the wrist from the party leader Ming Campbell but that should end the matter.

If the conservatives can tolerate the likes of Boris Johnson and his occasional 'bull in the china shop' remarks then the Lib Dems can tolerate Jenny. We have so few interesting or colourful characters in the party.

A campaign to save Jenny has been started - Not sure why it's really necessary as she's a life peer but I'm signing it anyway.

Grassing up your neighbours

Interesting snippet in today's Metro newpaper: Homeowners are being urged to report neighbours who fail to recycle rubbish. Teignbridge Council in Devon has set up a hotline so that residents can 'grass' on people who flout it's strict recycling rules. Officers will then visit to inspect their bins.

Such a 'wicked' idea - if Camden or Islington were to ever set up a system I'd never be off the phone. Have no qualms about grassing up residents who continually dump rubbish and refuse to recycle. It's such an eyesore and most irritating.

Who wants a call from the rubbish police? No wonder Teignbridge have a high recycling rate - well done for such positive action. Noticed on their website they also have Free Compost Giveaway Days!!! It says:

As a gesture of thanks for achieving a record recycling rate of 45% Teignbridge residents are being offered free compost at give away days organised by Teignbridge District Council and the Devon Composting Partnership.

Then, Waterproof Sack For Paper Trial 1000 Teignbridge residents have been taking part in a waterproof sack trial.


Been reading amusing stories this week about other council's distributing wheelie bins with preinstalled waste measurement micro chips.

Come on Islington, shape yourself up - could do with a proper wheelie bin, some free compost for my small garden and something bigger to put in all the recycling.

Guys News TV

So now we have Guys News TV - It's bound to be controversial - will definitely be thought provoking

Afghanistan: It's different when it's one of your own

Can't help it - everytime I hear news about Afghanistan, my heart skips a beat. My nephew Matthew is amongst the latest deployment of troops sent out there.

We have known he was going for months after his last promotion.
It's what he wants to do and is a committed soldier - taking every posting in his stride. The family is extremely proud of him.

Listening to Tony Blair addressing military personnel on the fifth anniversary of operations in that country on the TV last night - Blair promises 'more for troops'

He says British forces in Afghanistan will be provided with whatever resources they need, and pledged "every support and every protection".

That's all very well but when one of your own is involved it's a completely different emotion for those of us left behind. Mentally I've adapted a mind switch off when I hear of casualties among UK soldiers. A positive approach is the only way out. What choice is there, one can go crazy thinking negative thoughts about what might happen.

Hypnotherapy to stop smoking

It's now 72 hours without my having had a cigarette. Decided to go for Hypnotherapy again. It does work, least on me but it was the weight gain that forced me back on the fags after the last treatment.

I have a real phobia about being really over-weight. I'm no slim-Jane but I feel comfortable with the way I am at the moment. Being fat is psychologically more scary that any sickness I could possibly get from smoking.

Why do I want to give up smoking. I don't actually know because if truth were told I enjoy it. It keeps me alert and alive especially when under pressure. Why now am I trying to give it up? I'm just tired of being nagged and looked at as a social outcast.

Met a local hypnotist who promised if I agreed to give it a go he would included some of my own personal auto suggestions. I've known for years that my addiction to cigarettes is also an addiction to the brand, Rothman's Kingsize in the Blue and White pack - first suggestion to ignore the brand if I see it. The second thing to be funny was to stop eating chocolate.

Well it worked again. At the moment I feel really sick if I see a cigarette and my mind refuses to let me have any chocolate. I can't quite explain the feeling. I want to smoke, I definitely have the craving but somehow my mind won't let me.

I'm finding that I feel very tired - every 5 hours hours I'm having a half hour kip. I don't feel like talking much to anybody. The strangest thing is that coffee at least the type I take, strong, black and no sugar suddenly tastes disgusting. I don't have any headache usually associated with withdrawal symptoms but my shoulders hurt and the top of my back is aching.

Still early days yet - I've promised to persevere as long as I can hold out.

Well spotted James

Trust somebody to pick up on the article in the local paper about my blog. Seems that James Graham is also a regular reader of the Islington Tribune and spotted it.
Sort of surprised - thought he lived some distance away from the borders of Islington borough. Not to worry, I've taken it as a backhanded compliment.

He says,
'The letter’s page is also a great read. Being a member of a political party or a pressure group appears to be compulsory and all the letters are full of bile and vitriol. All great fun, but anyone interested in getting to the truth of the matter is entirely frustrated'.

Have to agree with him on this point. Seems it applies to many of London's local papers - least the ones I've ever read. Many of the letters are not genuine, they are letters concocted in a party's office with a members name to rubber stamp it. From the writing style it's obvious that very often the same person is writing them . Often wonder if they receive letters from ordinary members of the public and don't publish them in favour of known names or if it's a case of filling up the letters page with any old rubbish.

When words are not necessary

Pictures can say a thousand words. Times Online, Peter Brooks - Cartoon gallery